Radical Collaboration in Obstacle Course Design for Tough Mudder

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Tough Mudder is “Probably the Toughest Event on the Planet,” a 10-12 mile military-style obstacle course designed to test all-around strength, stamina, mental and physical grit, and teamwork. Inspired by British Special Forces training, each of the company’s now 50+ global events is a grueling untimed challenge with 20+ obstacles ranging from military classics—e.g. crawling through mud underneath barbed wire—to unique and terrifying experiences that test all the senses, such as the colorfully yet descriptively named Electric Eel, in which participants slither face-down through frigid water to avoid electric shocks from above. (Per Tough Mudder, “Should you try to crawl on your knees, you’ll be smacked with live wires and your body will compulsively contort!”) In 2012, the organization was set to go global with 35 events and half a million participants, and partnered with IDEO to construct a robust and scalable approach to obstacle innovation based on principles of rapid prototyping and human-centered design. Tough Mudder has since created a robust market-leading obstacle innovation process under the direction of the company’s Chief Creative Officer, including an offsite Obstacle Innovation Lab for rapidly prototyping and refining new obstacle concepts prior to final rollout.

The Tough Mudder/IDEO partnership began in an unusual way—with the blood, sweat, and tears of designers. While IDEO designers always seek to build empathy, this was no normal design consultation: After reading IDEO CEO Tim Brown’s book Change by Design, Tough Mudder’s CEO and cofounder Will Dean insisted that IDEO designers complete a Tough Mudder challenge before starting project work. Cofounder and president Guy Livingstone participated with the IDEO team, pointing out the event’s strengths and weaknesses so designers could better understand their performance and grasp all the nuances involved. IDEO designers then embarked on a 6-week project with the Tough Mudder team to create new obstacle concepts, in the process helping the Tough Mudder team adopt IDEO’s human-centered design approach and internalize best-in-class principles of innovation.

Design research included a range of interviews to figure out what makes Tough Mudder participants tick—including a conversation with a Tough Mudder super-fan who has the Tough Mudder pledge (which includes reminders that “Tough Mudder is not a race, but a challenge” and a commitment to “Overcome all fears”) tattooed on his back. During a two-day deep dive to discuss an initial batch of 25+ obstacle concepts, rapid prototypes and physical tests were created to better evaluate and evolve six final concepts for further thinking and design. Concepts were designed to reinforce camaraderie amongst participants, one of the event’s core values, by creating obstacle elements which required individuals to depend on one another and making it almost impossible to simply streak to the finish line on one’s own. Obstacles were refined, including a concept called “Brake On Through,” in which multiple participants must run full speed into a spring-loaded padded wall simultaneously and knock it over before they can move forward.

As a result of this project, the Tough Mudder Creative team has incorporated a number of design thinking methods into their pre-existing process, including:
• human-centered design research around the globe to inspire new ideas
• collaborative concept generation
• rapid prototyping

New obstacles are then deployed as “Mystery Obstacles” at designated events and analyzed for key performance indicators through Tough Mudder’s rigorous process, including safety, cost, and customer satisfaction (the best obstacles generate a strong love/hate relationship), and are finally authorized for permanent inclusion in the Tough Mudder catalog after a number of successful tests (or recycled back into the innovation process for further refinement). Once official, they are the subject of a defined marketing campaign meant to put the global Tough Mudder community on notice that the bar has been raised once again. But who would ever be foolish enough to subject themselves on more than one occasion to this arduous ordeal? Well, IDEO designers liked their first Tough Mudder challenge so much that they went back 5 months later to participate in another Tough Mudder event.

Innovation strategy for the next generation of team-building obstacle courses

Tough Mudder is “Probably the Toughest Event on the Planet,” a 10-12 mile military-style obstacle course designed to test all-around strength, stamina, mental and physical grit, and teamwork. Inspired by British Special Forces training, each of the company’s now 50+ global events is a grueling untimed challenge with 20+ obstacles ranging from military classics—e.g. crawling through mud underneath barbed wire—to unique and terrifying experiences that test all the senses, such as the colorfully yet descriptively named Electric Eel, in which participants slither face-down through frigid water to avoid electric shocks from above. (Per Tough Mudder, “Should you try to crawl on your knees, you’ll be smacked with live wires and your body will compulsively contort!”) In 2012, the organization was set to go global with 35 events and half a million participants, and partnered with IDEO to construct a robust and scalable approach to obstacle innovation based on principles of rapid prototyping and human-centered design. Tough Mudder has since created a robust market-leading obstacle innovation process under the direction of the company’s Chief Creative Officer, including an offsite Obstacle Innovation Lab for rapidly prototyping and refining new obstacle concepts prior to final rollout.

The Tough Mudder/IDEO partnership began in an unusual way—with the blood, sweat, and tears of designers. While IDEO designers always seek to build empathy, this was no normal design consultation: After reading IDEO CEO Tim Brown’s book Change by Design, Tough Mudder’s CEO and cofounder Will Dean insisted that IDEO designers complete a Tough Mudder challenge before starting project work. Cofounder and president Guy Livingstone participated with the IDEO team, pointing out the event’s strengths and weaknesses so designers could better understand their performance and grasp all the nuances involved. IDEO designers then embarked on a 6-week project with the Tough Mudder team to create new obstacle concepts, in the process helping the Tough Mudder team adopt IDEO’s human-centered design approach and internalize best-in-class principles of innovation.